Here are 39 exciting bars and restaurants coming soon to Houston

In conversations with restaurant owners around town, it's clear that people are pretty nervous about what the lingering effects of Harvey will mean for their businesses. Even a month after the storm, customer counts are down as diners are opting to save money by staying home and cooking.

Despite fears about how long it will take the situation to return to normal, this fall offers a number of intriguing new restaurants. After all, most of these businesses have been in the planning stages since long before Harvey made landfall, and they have too much momentum to get derailed now.

By any measure, 2017 has been a good one for new restaurants as homegrown establishments like Xochi, Oxbow 7, Riel, Star Fish, and others have joined forces with out of towners like 85C Bakery Cafe, Chengdu Taste, Yauatcha, and Aqui to give diners lots of exciting new choices. Keeping up with it all is practically a full-time job.